| Zonguldak | |
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| View of Zonguldak city center | |
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Zonguldak
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Region | Black Sea |
| Province | Zonguldak |
| Established | 1849 |
| Districts | 6 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Muharrem Akdemir (Republican People's Party (Turkey) (CHP)) |
| • Governor | Erdal Ata |
| Population (2010)[1] | |
| • City | 619,703 |
| • Urban | 287,321 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Postal code | 67xxx |
| Area code(s) | (+90) 372 |
| Licence plate | 67 |
| Website | zonguldak.yerelnet.org.tr |
Zonguldak is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Its population, according to the 2009 census, was 108,792. It is an important port on the Black Sea because of the coal mining in Zonguldak Province. The mayor is İsmail Eşref (CHP).
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The town was established in 1849 as a port town for the nearby coal mines in Ereğli.
The city's name probably comes from Zone Geul-Dagh, the name given to the area by French and Belgian mining companies.[2][3] Göldağı ("Lake Mountain") is the highest mountain in the vicinity of Devrek district.
Following information about Ereğli coal mining history, will help us to understand Zonguldak name is originated from Zone Geul-Dagh in French: (In Catholic Encyclopedia, with reference of year 1908, Zonguldak town is called as "Zoungoul-Dagh" or in Turkish, Zoungoul mountain; or with Turkish+French meaning, Lake/Göl mountain zone... "Goul-Dagh is a mountain on the south of Zonguldak town, with a little lake... It was a reference benchmark for the new mining zone and sea port location in Eregli region after 1860s.")
Another etymology is that the name originates from the Turkish zongalık which means swamp or zongura or it may have arisen from the name of the nearby ancient settlement of Sandraka or Sandrake.
According to another theory the name may have come from a compound word, namely Jungle-Dagh, from jungle which the French entrepreneurs named due to uneven and wooded geography of the land, and dağ meaning "a mountain" in Turkish.
Zonguldak has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb); with high and evenly distributed rainfall the year round. Summers are warm and humid, and the average temperature is around 21°C in July and August. Winters are cool and damp, and the average temperature is around 6°C in January and February.
Precipitation is heaviest in autumn and early winter and lightest in spring. Snowfall is quite common between the months of December and March, snowing for a week or two, and it can be heavy once it snows.
The water temperature like in the whole Turkish Black Sea coast is always cool and fluctuates between 8° and 20°C throughout the year.
| Climate data for Zonguldak | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 9.1 (48.4) |
9.1 (48.4) |
10.9 (51.6) |
15.0 (59.0) |
18.7 (65.7) |
23.1 (73.6) |
25.1 (77.2) |
25.2 (77.4) |
22.3 (72.1) |
18.5 (65.3) |
14.7 (58.5) |
11.2 (52.2) |
16.91 (62.43) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 3.6 (38.5) |
3.2 (37.8) |
4.8 (40.6) |
8.2 (46.8) |
12.0 (53.6) |
16.0 (60.8) |
18.2 (64.8) |
18.4 (65.1) |
15.5 (59.9) |
12.3 (54.1) |
8.5 (47.3) |
5.6 (42.1) |
10.53 (50.95) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 133.1 (5.24) |
85.8 (3.378) |
87.8 (3.457) |
57.5 (2.264) |
51.3 (2.02) |
71.2 (2.803) |
81.3 (3.201) |
88.4 (3.48) |
122.5 (4.823) |
153.3 (6.035) |
147.3 (5.799) |
153.8 (6.055) |
1,233.3 (48.555) |
| Avg. rainy days | 18.1 | 15.5 | 14.6 | 12.3 | 10.5 | 9.1 | 7.7 | 7.2 | 9.5 | 13.2 | 13.9 | 17.8 | 149.4 |
| Sunshine hours | 65.1 | 78.4 | 127.1 | 162 | 232.5 | 288 | 316.2 | 291.4 | 225 | 155 | 99 | 68.2 | 2,107.9 |
| Source: Devlet Meteoroloji İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü [4] | |||||||||||||
The city is the terminus of a railway line to Irmak, with the terminating station Zonguldak Railway Station built in 1937.
Zonguldak is twinned with:
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